Wartime HistoryIn 1904, the Russo-Japanese War pushed the Russians out of Korea. During 1910, an already Japanese occupied Korea was forced to sign the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty.

Over five million Koreans were conscripted for labor beginning in 1939, and tens of thousands of men were forced into Japan's military. Close to 400,000 Korean labourers lost their lives due to the war. Approximately 200,000 girls and women, mostly from China and Korea, were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military as "comfort women".